Not Another Music-Filled Trade Post

Of course I'm lying.

I received an excellent envelope in the mail today from north of the border -- Ontario, to be exact. Mike from Not Another Baseball Card Blog packaged up some Brewers to send my way in response to a package I sent to him. I made him wait quite a while to get the cards I sent his way, so I was very happy when the return envelope came my way. 

I know that I can be slow to send out packages to others at times, so I never take any offense when others take a while to send me cards. Heck, I am pretty sure that I have sent out packages of cards to folks on more than one occasion that I'm pretty sure weren't reciprocated. You know what? It doesn't really bother me.

All that said, these cards -- and Mike's blog -- have a distinctly Canadian feel, so it's Canadian music time. I'll start with a song that was stuck in my head literally all day until I listened to the whole song at about 2 PM this afternoon:

If I were more ambitious, I'd probably go to see The Strumbellas (a Juno-award winning Toronto band whose music has been called "folk popgrass") live this weekend for free for a St. Patrick's Day Party here in Atlanta this Saturday. Instead, I'm pretty sure that -- if it isn't raining -- I'll have a lot of yard work to do.

I'm praying for rain.

Anyway, here are some cards to go with that very catchy tune:

A literal fistful of O-Pee-Chee cards! Now, I wouldn't expect to receive anything less from a Canadian collector. Or rather, I'm pleased to see that junk wax Canadian-style is as ubiquitous in Canada as it is here in the United States.

Now, I just need to find some of those 1990 Fleer "Printed in Canada" cards. Are those things legitimately rare, or are they just rare because I'm in the Southern United States?

What's next on the Canada playlist?

I went through a period where I was really listened to a lot of Flogging Molly. By way of that, and back on Yahoo radio or something crazy like that which no longer exists, I heard of both the Dropkick Murphys and this band from Vancouver -- The Real McKenzies. Whenever I was in a super-contemplative mood, I'd listen to this song. When I wanted upbeat music, I'd listen to this:

I mean, what's better than punk music with bagpipes?

Absolutely nothing. Don't even try.

Cal Eldred recognized in his photo 22 years ago that he would be competing with -- and losing badly to -- such fantastic music. It's pretty clear, though, that Greg Vaughn is happy just to be associated with it.

Okay, time for some 90s Canadian music...

Sure, Our Lady Peace sounded like maple-syrup grunge to a lot of people, probably. But "Starseed" is a damn good song from a band that really is underrated in my opinion. At the same time, though, I did hear this song a ton in the mid-1990s, so perhaps they aren't underrated at all.



Dude! Mid-90s Finest? AWESOME! Maybe it's just that I wasn't around for these cards when they were new, but these just struck me as being really great cards today. It sort of like listening to some of those 1990s bands again "for the first time" today -- it can be very surprising how ... good some of the songs/cards are.

Now, for the early/mid 2000s....

Maybe it hasn't been long enough since this song was released. I haven't listened to this song in a long time. If I'm honest -- and unlike "Starseed" -- I could have done without hearing this song. For whatever reason, this song sounds like it is the musical personification of Johnny Knoxville and "Jackass"...and to be honest, I've never been a fan of that. Can't tell you a good reason why other than it just doesn't appeal to me.

Anyway, don't get me wrong -- I didn't turn off the radio when Sum 41 came on. But, I was okay when the song ended and Jimmy Eats World started playing.



Again, don't get me wrong about these cards either. They are cool, in that I need them for my team collection. And these guys even did reasonably well for the Brewers (well, other than Rigdon and his career FIP of 5.67 with Milwaukee). I just don't mind when the next card comes off the pile.

Finally, let's move back to more contemporary times.

While I've heard songs off Arcade Fire's first album Funeral, I really got into the band when they released Neon Bible with such great songs as "Keep the Car Running" and "No Cars Go." "Reflektor" is a song that I've liked since it was released a couple of years ago.

I will say, though, that one bad thing about having Spotify at my fingertips is that I don't often listen to full albums any more. I really should listen to this full album.

This song was hitting the alternative charts around the time I got back into collecting and into blogging a couple of years ago -- 2014 -- just like the coup de grâce of this envelope from Mike:

This is just fantastic. I tried for many months back in 2014 to pick up one of these at a decent -- not even reasonable...just decent price -- and failed. Since then, they seem to elude me regularly. So, for this card to have been included in this cross-border trade package is unbelievable.

Mike, you're awesome dude! Thank you SO much for these cards!  And I never even played Barenaked Ladies!

Couldn't resist!